Desiderata

This is one of my favorite poems. I have it on a book mark and read it often. It was written in 1920, the year my Mom was born by Max Ehrmann.

Max Ehrmann was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on September 16, 1872. His parents were German immigrants. Ehrmann graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle in 1894, after which he studied law and philosophy at Harvard University.

Ehrmann returned to Terre Haute to practice law, following which (early 1900's) he began writing,  obsessively. Max Ehrmann was known as the 'Poet Laureate' of Terre Haute.

Ehrmann wrote many poems, although none became well known until after his death. He died never knowing people eventually loved his poetry. Aside from Desiderata his most famous poem is A Prayer, written in 1906.

Max Ehrmann originally copyrighted Desiderata in 1927 as 'Go Placidly Amid The Noise And Haste'. The copyright number was 962402, dated 3rd January.

Ehrmann included Desiderata in a Christmas message to his friends in 1933, and significantly never added any copyright notice, a factor which featured strongly in legal considerations in the 1970's about Desiderata copyright (more below).

US Army psychiatrist Merill Moore wrote in 1942 to Ehrmann that he used the Desiderata poem in his therapy work, and also wrote to Ehrmann in 1944 suggesting that the poem should be bottled and sold as 'Dr Ehrmann's Magic Soul Medicine'. Communications between Moore and Ehrmann featured strongly in legal considerations in the 1970's about Desidarata copyright (more below).

Max married Bertha three months before his death in 1945. Bertha Scott King Ehrmann was from New York; she graduated from Smith College, wrote, taught, and published a book called The Worth of a Girl. Three months after Max Ehrmann's death, Bertha published four of his books.

Max Ehrmann's widow Bertha published the Desiderata poem with some other of his work in 1948, in a collection titled The Poems Of Max Ehrmann. She re-renewed the Desiderata copyright in 1948 and 1954.

Bertha Ehrmann died in 1962, upon which the copyright ownership passed to her nephew Richmond Wight. Wight later sold the copyright for an undisclosed amount to Crescendo Publishing Company in 1975.  

All this information about the poem came from a site called http://www.businessballs.com/ , I am not claiming it as my own research. I just find it such a tragedy that he never knew what an impact his thoughts had on so many people.

I love the poem its my favorite...and thought I would share with some facts about the man behind it.

You Are What You Eat

 

You are what you eat right? Isn’t that good reason to blame Paula Deen for having type 2 diabetes?  I mean only overweight people get that therefore,   if you get that disease…hey, it’s your own fault!  Besides that, she had it for three years before revealing that she had been diagnosed with it, making her a real villain! She continued to make old fashioned comfort food with butter and cream, and taking people’s money  as if she was,  “poisoning the public” with her high calorie, high fat and high sugar recipes ?  Paula Deen the villain of the day!

In my estimation, this is just one more thing the public needs to mind their own business about. What was she supposed to do?  Should she have walked out of the Drs. office and told the world she had diabetes before she even knew what that meant for her, and how she was going to control her disease? People would have been swarming around; blaming her just, like they are now and she would have no time to even have any thought out answers. I think she handled her news exactly as she should have. Get herself on medication, a carb restricted diet and invested in a treadmill. She is not responsible for the rest of America’s cholesterol numbers, glucose numbers or any other heath issue. It is up to every person to know their own health risks and numbers. Is Paula Deen’s cooking going to stop the obesity problem in this country…hell no!

She has always taken the position of all things in moderation. You can still eat cake and even yummy Paula Deen cake, as long as it’s counted as carbs and calories.  She has said many times she does not eat everything she cooks all day, every day even herself. Stress plays a huge part in diabetes numbers and I believe acquiring diabetes in the first place, as does genetics.

 Thin people have diabetes just like the overweight, thin people die of heart attacks and strokes too believe it or not.  I don’t dispute the fact that being overweight and eating poorly increases the chance that you get one of those but if you are lucky enough to live long enough eventually…. you will get something no matter what you do. When you’re fat however everything is your own fault. It’s still ok to hate fat people in this country and be superior to them. It's the last socially excepted prejudice.  Watch Bridesmaids…funny, funny movie but most of the humor was "fat girl humor", my personal favorite(scarcasm alert).

I am probably biased because I have always been a huge Paula Deen fan and a fat girl. I remember the first day I watched Paula cook something…and found her personality so fun, so next door comfortable, and have always thought she was an absolutely beautiful lady. She has overcome anxiety disorder that " ain't no easy task"!  It seems everything the public builds up... it tears down, so now I guess it’s time to pick on her. Why can’t people just let people be people?  If you don’t like calorie dense Paula Deens cooking don’t buy her cookbooks, it’s that simple. We really don’t need to crucify her!

 Andy Rooney once said, (and this is not a direct quote, but) something like two of the biggest sections in the bookstores are cookbooks… right next to the diet section telling you not to eat.  People make a big deal out of very thing it seems! So, if we are what we eat…I say avoid fruits and nuts, cuz there seems to be an abundance of them already!